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September 2013

Executive officers of the Student Government Association at Pearl River Community College are, seated from left, vice president Shelby Stiglets and secretary Desmond Edmonson, both of Hattiesburg, and president Breanna Peters of Brandon. Class officers are, from left, sophomore vice president Santana Howze, president Kelsea Lewis and secretary Teran Madison, all of Hattiesburg; freshman president Michaela Andrews of Foxworth, vice president Raygan Necaise of Kiln and secretary Jerrod Newson of Columbia.PRCC Public Relations photo

POPLARVILLE - A sophomore from Brandon has been elected executive president of the Student Government Association at Pearl River Community College.Breanna Peters will lead the nine-member association during the 2013-14 year. Serving with her are executive vice president Shelby Stiglets of Hattiesburg and executive secretary Desmond Edmonson, also of Hattiesburg. Peters, 18, is the daughter of Brian Crumb and Sherita Peters, both of Brandon, and a graduate of Northwest Rankin High School. An occupational therapy major, she is a member of the String of Pearls dance squad. Stiglets, 19, is the daughter of Tracy and Stacy Stiglets of Hattiesburg and a graduate of Oak Grove High School. She is a biology major and a member of the Lady Wildcat soccer team and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Edmonson is the 19-year-old son of Cleveland Edmonson and Veronica Davis, both of Hattiesburg. A graduate of Hattiesburg High School, he is a drum major for the Spirit of the River marching band and a social work major.Sophomore class officers are president Kelsea Lewis, vice president Santana Howze and secretary Teran Madison, all of Hattiesburg. Lewis, 19, is the daughter of Ray and Tammy Lewis of Hattiesburg and an Oak Grove High School graduate. A nursing major, she is a member of the PRCC softball team and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team. Howze is the 19-year-old daughter of Felesha and Samuel Howze of Hattiesburg. She is a graduate of Hattiesburg High School and an elementary education major at PRCC where she is in the Spirit of the River color guard. Madison, also a Hattiesburg High graduate, is the daughter of Tera Smith of Hattiesburg and Richard Madison of Lawrence County. She is a nursing major.Freshman class officers are president Michaela Andrews of Foxworth, vice president Raygan Necaise of Kiln and secretary Jerrod Newson of Columbia. Andrews, 19, is the daughter of Jack Andrews of Foxworth and Jackie Andrews of Columbia and a graduate of West Marion High School. She is a member of the Spirit of the River marching band and the PRCC Singers. Necaise, 18, is the son of Stacey and Maurice Necaise of Kiln and a graduate of Hancock High School. He is an electrical engineering major and a member of the River Navigators recruitment team. Newson, 18, is the son of Bridget Newsom of Columbia. A graduate of East Marion High School, he is an instrumentation major.

POPLARVILLE - Concert-goers will hear a variety of well-known music when the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents the grand-opening concert in the Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts at Pearl River Community College. The symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, following a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony on stage. The first segment of the program will include a tribute to the music of Irvin Berlin, highlights from Les Miserables and the theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Following intermission, the symphony will play selections from Jesus Christ Superstar, three love themes from James Bond movies and a medley of Beatles favorites by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is the state’s premier orchestral organization,” said Archie Rawls, Brownstone Center director and chair of the PRCC Department of Fine Arts and Communication. “This program of light classical and popular music is sure to please the audience. Pearl River Community College is delighted to present this concert in our beautiful new arts center.” Conductor Crafton Beck is starting his 11th season with the symphony and is well-known as the arranger of more than 80 musical selections. He holds a doctorate in conducting from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and studied at the University of Michigan, Ohio State University and the Aspen School. Beck’s arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Pianist Shawn Leopard will be featured soloist on Themes from Exodus. She holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and Indiana University. She currently teaches and performs in Jackson where she is associated with the symphony and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. Tickets for the concert are $15 and are available by calling 601-403-1180, online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by mail at Pearl River Community College, Brownstone Center for the Arts, 101 Highway 11 North, Poplarville, MS 39470. The Mississippi Arts Commission provided a grant to help make the symphony concert possible. Sponsors for the Brownstone Center 2013-14 Inaugural Season include Hattiesburg Coca-Cola (Presidential Sponsor), Griffin Architecture and BankPlus (Chairman’s Sponsors) and Martin T. and Dolores Smith (Patron Sponsors).

POPLARVILLE - The Pearl River Community College Alumni Association is looking for alumni to attend homecoming reunions. The association will host a 10-year reunion for the four 2003-04 athletic teams which won state championships - men’s soccer, men’s basketball, baseball and football. Also planned are reunions of the 2002-03 women’s Region 23 champion basketball team and the soccer championship teams of 2005, 2009 and 2012. Homecoming will also include the traditional 50-year reunion of the Class of 1963 along with a gathering of associate degree nursing graduates. Homecoming will be celebrated on Saturday, Oct. 19, with the PRCC Sports Hall of Fame induction, reunions and the Alumni Luncheon before the 2 p.m. football game against East Central Community College. Members of any of the reunion groups are asked to contact Alumni Coordinator Candace Harper for information and to be included on a mailing list. Harper can be reached at 601-403-1183 or by email at charper@prcc.edu.

POPLARVILLE - The work of a Wiggins artist is on display at Pearl River Community College. Stained glass pieces created by Renee` King, owner of Renee`’s Glass Emporium, is on display in the Moody Hall gallery until Oct. 31. “I’ve been doing stained glass for 30 years,” King said. “My mother’s best friend taught us how to do it and I’ve progressivley built on that foundation to learn my own way of doing the glass. You have to develop your own style.” Creating the pieces takes about 15 minutes per piece of cut glass, she said. Although she designs most of her work, she also does custom glass for customers who come to her with an idea. Her work includes windows for doors, side lights, transoms, baths, kitchen cupboards and mosaics. A chance encounter between King and PRCC art instructor Charleen Null led to the exhibit. “We met up in a crafts store one day and got to talking,” Null said. “She showed me her work and I was impressed.” Null teaches PRCC students to form, grind and cut glass but doesn’t have space to teach the stained glass technique. In addition to the glass pieces, King’s exhibit includes a few of the gourds she grows and paints. “My grandmother had gourds,” she said. “I started growing them and then I found the Mississippi Gourd Society.” She participated in the society’s Sept. 20 festival in Raleigh. King also paints murals and is an award-winning seamstress. The gallery is located on the first floor of Moody Hall across the street from the Brownstone Center for the Arts.

Pearl River Community College art instructor Charleen Null, left, and Wiggins artist Renee` King talk about a stained glass mosaic that is part of King's exhibit at PRCC. The exhibit also includes gourds grown and painted by King.PRCC Public Relations photo

POPLARVILLE - High school juniors and seniors can get into the Sept. 26 Pearl River Community College football game free. Tailgating starts at 5:30 p.m. outside Dobie Holden Stadium on the Poplarville campus with kickoff against Southwest Mississippi Community College at 7 p.m. High school students must check in at the table by the main gate and show photo identification or proof of high school enrollment.

POPLARVILLE - The first event at the Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts at Pearl River Community College lived up to its billing as a grand opening. It was a night for superlatives to describe the building and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s performance alike. Concert-goers left the $10.4 million center saying “great ... incredible ... awesome ... fantastic.” “It’s excellent,” said Poplarville City Alderman Byron Wells. “I am so impressed with this facility and so proud it’s in Poplarville, Miss.” PRCC broke ground on the center almost two years ago to replace and augment the Moody Hall auditorium destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. “The reaction from the guests and the orchestra and conductor was the highlight for me,” said Archie Rawls, PRCC’s fine arts and communications chair and director of the Brownstone Center. “Seeing everybody enjoy it so much and seeming to be truly appreciative that we were able to have something like this in Poplarville and at Pearl River ... I’m so very excited about the great response from the community and what it means for the future.” Approximately $4 million of the construction cost came from the estate of Ethel Holden Brownstone, a native of the Whitesand community and a 1931 high school graduate of Pearl River County Agricultural High School and Junior College. “It’s wonderful,” said Ethel Ladner of Carnes, a niece by marriage and one of about 50 Holden family members attending. “It’s all so pretty. Lord, she would have loved it. Do you think she’s looking down watching us?” A portrait of Ethel Holden Brownstone and her husband, Lucien, hangs in the lobby as does one of Martin T. and Dolores Smith for whom the auditorium is named. The college Board of Trustees named the auditorium for them in recognition of their many years of service to the college and the community, said Dr. William Lewis, PRCC president. “Mrs. Smith was a member of the college business faculty for 42 years,” he said. “Mr. Smith was a long-time member of the state Senate, served as the first administrator of the Mississippi Supreme Court and has served for many years as the attorney for the PRCC Board of Trustees.” Martin Smith represented the college during a challenge to Mrs. Brownstone’s will. “Without his diligent legal efforts, this facility might never have been constructed,” Lewis said. Following Lewis’s remarks, the extended Holden family gathered in front of the stage as PRCC Board of Trustees chairman Frank Ladner of Bay St. Louis cut the symbolic ribbon and dozens of cameras and cell phones flashed. Sponsors for the orchestra’s performance were the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Orchestra conductor Crafton Beck had high praise for the Brownstone Center “This room is as fine as any room in the state ... that’s it,” he said. “Having a room like this in this community is going to change who we are over the longest term. In 15 years, our children, our students, some of us are not going to be the same people because of what we hear in this room.” The schedule for the 2013-14 school year includes a lecture by well-known physicist Dr. Michio Kaku on Oct. 17, Christmas at the River by PRCC instrumental and vocal groups, Dec. 5; The Spirit of Harriet Tubman one-woman show, Feb. 25; The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra featuring New York Voices, March 28; PRCC Symphonic Band spring concert, March 31; Guys and Dolls, the PRCC spring musical, April 10-11; PRCC JazzCats and The Voices spring concert, April 24; and PRCC Singers spring concert, April 29. Ticket information can be found at www.brownstonecenter.com.

Frank Ladner, center, chairman of the Pearl River Community College Board of Trustees, prepares to cut the ribbon officially opening the Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts at PRCC. On stage with him are, from left, PRCC student Rachel Pierce of Columbia, PRCC President Dr. William Lewis, Brownstone Center director Archie Rawls, PRCC student Mallory Cumberland of Picayune and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. In front of the stage are members of the Holden family.

The audience waits in the packed house for the concert to begin.

Family of Ethel Holden Brownstone talk before the grand opening of the center. They are, from left, Cathy Ladner, Ethel Ladner and Wilhelmina Egger, all of Carnes, and Marie Holden of Carriere.PRCC Public Relations photos